Feb 26, 2015 4 min read

CANONSBURG – Facing a team for the third time with a state playoff berth on the line can require some creativity.

Less than three hours before its WPIAL Class AAA play-in game against Trinity, McGuffey’s girls basketball team gathered in a classroom in the high school. Twenty-four hours earlier, Highlanders head coach Amanda Burchett and assistant Bobbi Belleville installed four new offensive plays and a new defense to combat the Hillers.

McGuffey’s players practiced the plays Thursday afternoon. Defensive players wore hooded sweatshirts. Offense wore T-shirts and an orange substituted as the basketball.

Though the pregame walk-through of the new plays was unorthodox, it’s difficult to argue that it was not effective.

Using new tricks to wear down Trinity’s defense and two seniors who could not miss in the fourth quarter, McGuffey defeated the Hillers, 68-59, to earn the WPIAL’s seventh seed in the PIAA playoffs.

The No. 14 Highlanders (19-8) will face the loser of the WPIAL title game between Blackhawk and South Fayette, Saturday, March 7 at a time and site to be determined. The Hillers’ season ended with a 17-9 record.

“We knew that (Trinity head coach Bob Miles) knew what we ran,” Burchett said. “We shifted everything around and once we had them off guard, we went back to our old plays a few times. We’d set more screens instead and mixed things up. It worked.”

The teams split their regular season series with both earning a double-digit win on the road. In the last meeting, McGuffey lacked consistency on offense and struggled to execute on the perimeter.

The simple tweaks changed a few things.

Senior Sammie Weiss scored a game-high 32 points, including 16 in the fourth quarter, and senior Rachel Czulewicz added 17 for McGuffey, which reached the state playoffs for the third consecutive season and the first time in Class AAA.

“We all came in and said we weren’t losing, especially to Trinity because they are our rivals,” Czulewicz said.

The victory did not come without a close call. The Highlanders trailed from midway through the second quarter until Weiss sank two foul shots with 4:54 remaining for a 55-54 lead.

Trinity senior Rachel Phillis, who scored all of her team-high 18 points in the second half, tied the game on a put-back, but McGuffey finished the game on a 13-4 run, including six-for-six from the free throw line.

Czulewicz hit two three-pointers in the fourth quarter to complement Weiss’ strong inside game and the Highlanders’ six free throws in the final 47 seconds to secure the victory.

McGuffey scored 46 second-half points and outrebounded Trinity during that span, despite junior forward Carae Wagner sitting because of foul trouble.

“I thought we rebounded well the whole game, but they made a few more shots than we did,” Trinity head coach Bob Miles said. “It’s tough to see it end. I especially feel bad for the seniors.”

The two teams traded baskets throughout the first half until the Hillers finished the second quarter on an 8-2 run to take a 27-22 lead into halftime.

Phillis led an offensive charge in the third quarter to increase Trinity’s lead to eight points, but Weiss, junior Katie Demi and junior Sarah Sushel made three-pointers to keep the game close.

The Hillers overcame 11 first-half turnovers and led by six points at the end of the third quarter.

The coaching staff’s move to change the playbook created some open looks for Weiss down low and with the use of screens, Czulewicz found room to land two clutch three-pointers.

“It was intense and frustrating,” Weiss said of the fourth quarter. “We wanted to win really bad and I didn’t want to go home, especially against Trinity since they are our rival. We couldn’t lose this game.”

McGuffey struggled in back-to-back losses to South Park and Elizabeth Forward, but the change in the offense sparked a new energy in the Highlanders. McGuffey’s players were calling out ball screens and playing the same style of stifling defense that had them one game away from first place in the section late in the season.

“We wanted it more. It was personal for our kids,” Burchett said “They grew up playing against Trinity. You couldn’t set this up any better, and we told the team that the loser goes home. They didn’t want to leave the gym tonight without a win.”